Life after Death
by roza-adrian
Summary: sequel to once a hero, not always a hero chapters based on the other countries
1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

Arthur's POV

The past year has been so quiet. Each day I pray to God that Alfred would be about to call me. Every day I lose hope, because I know that he is gone. Several weeks after he was buried I decided that I would join him. I couldn't live in a world without him.

But somehow he must have stopped me. When I was going to jump the top of Big Ben I heard his voice. His deep voice trying to push me away from the edge of the building. My land is known for its ghosts, but that day I truly met one. That one ghost made me realize that there is a life after death.

When I lay next to Francis in bed, we stop for a moment and think about him. Some days we cannot talk about anything else. Other days hearing anything about him hurts. July 4th is one of the hardest days. January 23rd is the other hardest days. It was the day he committed suicide.

Sometimes I want to go back in time. I want to go back to the day that he broke up with me. I would fight harder for him. I would fight and stop him breaking up with me. But those are my only hopes and wishes.

In three months I am going to marry Francis. He is no Alfred but we both have Alfred in common. We both have lost someone that we have loved. I don't truly love Francis, but you can't marry someone who is dead. But if you could I would call back Alfred's spirit and marry him.

I have tried several times to call Alfred from the dead. But each time Ivan comes up saying "you called?" life it was him that I was trying to summon. Well excuse me Ivan but I don't want you. I want Alfred.

I know I have seeped into a depression. How could someone who has lost everything that y have loved, not? Its nature's way of telling you that you have nothing left. I have learnt that harshly and quickly.

I love Alfred. I need Alfred. I need him to come back to me for longer than a few minutes, which bought me to the idea of visiting the Statue of Liberty and summoning him from there. I know that Halloween would be the best time to summon him. October 31st. the day of his favourite holiday

On the 31/10/14 I decided it was time. Time to bring back the spirit of Alfred so we could talk once more before I truly let go of the love that I had for Alfred. To let go of the pain.

I flew over to New York. I know that I needed that I needed this. When I reached Manhattan, I rode a ferry to Statue of Liberty National Monument. I climbed up the top of the lady. I drew a pentagram on the head in chalk. I placed several Big Macs and large sodas around at each point of the star. I start chanting in Latin, calling on the spirit of Alfred to join the living until 11:59 pm. The powers inside of me begin to leave and go to find the one that I love. The longer that it takes the weaker I become.

As soon as I'm about to collapse I see his form begin to take place. His glasses are sitting on his nose. His hair is all messed up in that sexy way. He is wearing his jacket that he wore during the wars. He looks exactly like he used to. Except, his face shows pain. Pain of being disrupted from his eternal slumber. And I have caused that pain. That causes my own pain.

He just stares at me. I stare at him. I want to hug him. I want to kiss away his pain. I start choking up. He reaches over and tries to wipe away my tears. His hand goes through my face. It makes me cry even more. He can't do anything to help me.

I pick up one of the burgers and hold it out to him. His hand goes straight to the burger and once again his hand goes straight through it. I place the burger to his laps but he couldn't eat it. My heart is breaking. I can't believe that he can't eat his favourite food. I see his mouth open and close like he was trying to speak.

He struggles for ages. Slowly syllable by syllable he manages to speak.  
"Ar…thur…I …love…you…I…need…to…go…it…is…al…most…mid…night" The effort that it takes him to speak is colossal. But he said that he loved me. That was all I needed. I check my watch and see that he is right. 11:59. I promised Satan that he would be back by 11:59.

"Goodbye, my love." I say as I scrub away the pentagram. As soon as he it was gone, Alfred was also gone. That was when I started to break apart. His visit made me realize that life and death were so close together. I pick up one of the burgers and start eating it. Now I can understand why Alfred loved them so much. The fat in them made one forget their troubles for a few minutes. Only something that Alfred would think up of.

It was then I decided to visit his home and check out the garden shed. I hadn't looked in it before today. I never had the nerve. But today was different. I had seen him and that had restored hope in me. I was ready to see what Alfred Foster Jones had given me.

I enter his house and see Matthew and Jett sitting there discussing something. I wave to them and they both nod. They know what I am doing, probably. I walk out the back door and into his backyard. The amount of flora that was there blew my mind. In the bottom back corner I see a shed. That is where I need to be. I walk up and open the door.

The first thing that I see is the old rifle. I pick it up and examine it. It looked normal until I see that there was a scratch on it. I did that. I did that when I thrusted my bayonet at him. I hastily put it down. I walked around and saw the toy soldiers. I made them for him. I broke my arm making them. And he kept them in mint condition. A smile warms my face. I pick up one with a dint in its bayonet. That is the one that I broke my arm making. I put it down the second my arm started aching. I open the closest in the corner of the room. There was nothing in there except a suit. I remember giving it to him. Not only that I remember arguing with Alfred about it. He didn't like the way I was dressing him. He wanted to dress his own way. I remember being hurt when he said he would only wear it on special occasions.

I had to leave the shed. All my emotion were going overboard. I can't handle owning all of his old things that I gave him. I walked back into the house. Jett and Matthew stopped talking and came to comfort me. They obviously knew where I was for the past hour. Jett stroked my hair the way I used to stroke his hair.  
"You okay?" Matthew asked. I nodded in response.  
"Do you want to go home?" Matthew asked. I nodded again. The two of them boarded me on a defence force plane. It was then I concluded I would never go back to America.

_Dear Diary,_

_I summoned him. He said he loved me. I then went to see what he left me. It was everything that I gave him.  
I want him back in my life. I need him. He obviously knew what he was doing by leaving me his old items. I wonder what he means by giving them to me._

_Arthur Kirkland_


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

Matthew's POV

My brother. My older brother. Soon he will be my younger brother. I will continue to age while he rots in the ground. It is the physics of life.

I'm Matthew. Someone who no one notices. But since my brother, Alfred, died everyone has begun to notice me. Maybe it is because we look the same. We may look the same, but we have completely opposite personalities. I am the calmer one. I was. There is only one of us now. Most of the time I believe that Alfred is still there waiting for something. I think he still wants to be the hero, even in death.

Six months after Alfred's death, someone else close to me died. Gilbert Beilschmidt. He was the love of my life. And now he is with Alfred. Probably having a war with each other. Some nights when I am looking out for the continental USA I can feel someone there. With a similar personality to Alfred. But most of the time I am dreaming. Alfred is dead and America is split into Canadian and Italian territories. The majority of the time Feliciano and Romano don't come here. They think that Alfred will haunt them. So it is mainly Jett and I. Jett only stays to keep the defence forces training.  
Jett is amazing. I know why that Alfred loved him. He was with me when Artie came over to look in the garden shed. He was with me to help defend my lands when Ivan tried to steal Alaska from me. Alfred knew what he was doing when he left Jett the Defence Corps. Jett stood his ground. I saw Alfred helping Jett. I never told him though. It is a secret that I am willing to keep.

Kuma says that Alfred hasn't found peace. I don't think that he has either. Kuma also says that Gilbert and Alfred are working together. Most likely working together to annoy Ivan. They both have a lot against Ivan. Gilbert lost everything. Land, hope, people, life. Alfred lost people and money, but gained land. Shame that they both had to lose so much for someone to win.

I have talked about everyone else but myself. As I said at his funeral, I will never get over his death. He always protected me. Even though he was protecting me by making me invisible, I loved him for it. Gilbert took his words seriously and made sure no one noticed me until his death. And the nights when Gilbert was too sick to protect me, Ludwig was the one to protect the both of us. Then on July 25th, Gilbert didn't wake up.  
I tried everything to help him. CPR, using Gilbird, kissing him, everything. He wouldn't wake up. I had lost nearly everyone that I loved. I had lost my brother and my boyfriend because of something that my brother did. You don't know what you have until you lose it. My dad's, in some ways, Francis and Arthur have been helping me. They have lost so many friends. They have seen empires rise and falls. That is how they know how to deal with death.  
They are teaching me that while there is life for us until humanity forgets about us. Most people will never know what is around the corner. Francis once said about both Gilbert and Arthur, "How are they dead if they live in your mind?" Arthur said, "Death changes you." Both of them are true. Gilbert and Alfred may be dead in flesh, but they are alive in the fact I remember both of them.

I will tell you about the Battle of Alaska, the last time I saw Alfred.

Ivan decided that no one else should own America but himself. Feliciano, Romano, Jett and I weren't going to have it. Well, to be honest, Ludwig was also there because he didn't want Feliciano to get hurt. So between the five of us we had over 100,000 men. We weren't giving up easily. We prayed to Alfred to help us in the battle. Little did we know he would help us.

Ivan had his men shipped over to Alaska. That is when he crossed the line. He claimed that as Alaska was bought by the Russians, so he had the first claim to the state. Jett, being Jett, came to my defence by saying that Alfred left the northern states to me and as Alaska was in the north, I had the claim to it. Romano backed me up by punching Ivan in the face. I don't know what got into that feisty Italian. Normally he would be too scared of Ivan. Then I hit Ivan in the nuts with a hockey puck. Small miracles.

Ludwig went straight for St Petersburg. Not only did he attack a massive landmark, but he got the cooperation of Toris Raivis, and Eduard and Feliks Łukasiewicz. Feliciano jumped straight into his arms when Ludwig got into my territory. This was one party that Ivan wasn't going to be invited to.

Ludwig was able to help with the Intel. Ludwig and Ivan were friends for a brief minute so he knew all the ins and outs of the Russian Army. He told us that the army had three bullets per soldier. He also told us that they were once again working in manufacturing nuclear weaponry. Everything that we needed to know about Ivan we learnt from Ludwig.

From what I remembered, Alfred stored his nuclear weapons in New Mexico. Feliciano was surprised that he had nukes in his territory. Jett was also able to score some from Arthur. When we asked how he got them he said, "Well, when you let Artie do nuke testing in the outback you get some as a payment." So all together we had about 12 nukes. The amount was almost double what Ivan had. As a warning we dropped one in the middle of nowhere, Russia. Ivan was pissed. That's when he decided to split us up.

He sent a few ships towards Australia. He sent Calvary through the Baltic States and Poland. He sent bomber planes over Italy. He didn't need to send anything to Germany because Ivan knew that Ludwig would divert his troops to Italy leaving his place defenceless. We fell into his trap. The others got scared and went to protect their homes first,

Jett threatened Ivan with his wildlife. Koala bears aren't cute and cuddly. Ivan learnt that the hard way. Jett got back to the Alaskan Front first. This is when I saw Alfred in him. Jett was in battle mode from the first wave. When there were no more waves, he went into their trenches. Something that only Alfred would do. But it worked. He single handily stopped the Russians coming and claiming Alaska. I owed him after that.

The day that Arthur visited we were discussing about making Alaska an Australian territory. He claimed that it was always going to be mine. He also claimed that Alfred left it to me. I rebutted by saying Alfred left him the defence corps and that would help defend Alaska. We came to an agreement that Alaska will be Jett's the same way that the defence corps was Jett's, in name. I felt that Alfred was happy with decision. I could also feel Alfred in Jett.

After that battle, Ivan left us alone. I felt sorry for him. For so many years people have hated him. These years he has been playing on the image that people made of him. I know that Alfred has forgiven him for his past mistakes.

I know that you have forgotten who I am. I am the hero's brother. I am Matthew Williams. Defender of the Us and owner of Kuma. Forget me if you must, but never forget my brother Alfred


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

Ivan's POV

Alaska should be mine. But those fucken Australians are stopping me from claiming what is truly mine. If Jett hadn't tortured me with those bears I would be on my way to claiming Canada and the rest of America. But nooooo! He had to ruin everything. Even Ludwig betrayed me. But that is not I'm here to say. I'm here to speak Alfred.

Alfred was one of the biggest dickheads. He tried to expand from the whale shaped idiot that he is. He bought Alaska from me, but that's okay, but then he came and colonised the Philippines. He fought against me. If we hadn't signed the treaty to say that we would stop nuclear testing on land, in the sea and in space we would have had world war 3. Lucky big brother Artie stepped in huh?

I hate his guts. He told my "helpers" to try to break free from me. He told them to think of him and they will have the strength of the hero. I had to threaten them to make them cooperate with me. I had to threaten them. I don't like having to do that. Oh wait, I do. That's one of my favourite habits.

So Alfred left Jett in charge of his defence force. He let the bloody kangaroo be in charge. Even I could see the problem in that. If I died, I would never let a kangaroo lover be in charge of anything. That would be like letting a kindergartner be in charge of a country. I hate him. Though sometimes I wish he was alive once more. He helped me deal with Natalya. She might be a crazy stalker chick, but Alfred was more crazy and more of a stalker. He made her believe that she had her own stalker looking for her. That is the only reason why she stopped annoying me.

Maybe I don't hate Alfred. I mean I did help him during the World Wars. Oh wait, scratch that. The only reason why I helped him was that we were both part of the Allies. I probably wouldn't have helped him if we weren't part of the same team.

The people of my home wanted us to be allied in more ways. They also wanted me to be friends with Jett. I don't do friends. I only do acquaintances and conquered territories. No one would be friends with me. Not even the so called hero.

Isn't the hero's job to help the poor and the unfortunate? Isn't it the hero's job to make everyone equal? Isn't the hero's job to comfort those who have suffered a lot in their life? Because if that is the hero's role, than Alfred was a shitty ass hero. He should take a look at his own superheroes and then put their actions into his life. Oops, he can't. He is dead. And if everyone had an idea who to blame it would be me. I know that they would say that I pushed him into the stages of depression after the Cold War.

Matthew is the worse at the moment. Yes I can see that Canadian. He says that Alfred wants to be the hero, even in death. I say that fuzzy Canadian is making shit up to deal with the death of his so called brother and his so called boyfriend I know that Alfred never cared about his younger brother and I swear that Gilbert never cared about him.

Gilbert is an interesting topic. I never liked that guy. I hated him so much that I claimed his territory for myself. I purposely separated from his brother Ludwig for a reason, to show that German what happens when you fuck with the Russians. You don't break a deal with me. Don't get me wrong, it worked. The Germans never threatened me again. It was the best idea that I ever came up with.

I miss Alfred, somehow. I think that is because I have no one to threaten from overseas and who is part of the G8. I could threaten Arthur, but he is too scared of me. Francis would just flirt with me. No one cares about Arthur. I hate Ludwig and Feliciano.

I hope we put Yao in the G8 now, seeing as Alfred is gone.

So to summon everything up. I hate Alfred and I hope he rots in hell.


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

Jett's POV

G'day I'm Jett Kirkland. Yeah I'm Artie's younger brother. Yeah he shipped me to a place where absolutely EVERYTHING can kill you. Nah, I don't hate him for it. I just hate him for not saving Alfred.

Alfred was more than my ally. I wanted to be his. No one could come close to understanding everything that I thought about him. He had my heart for the moment that we met. The life and death separation makes it harder. What makes life easier is that I don't have to hide anything from Artie anymore.

How do you tell someone that whenever you speak to a certain person that your heart races, your brain stops working, you try to act like everything is normal but you can feel that it's not? That's how I felt around Alfred. I would try everything to make sure that he would help me if I helped him. So I was glad when we started doing joint military exercises. That led to me joining wars to help him. I could see that I went to extremes.

But I could see that Artie was in love with Alfie. I backed down so Artie could have him. I regret everything. After Alfie broke Artie's heart, Artie only moved on. I could have stopped the heartbreak on my brother's behalf. If it were me in that position I would beg, plead and find out why Alfie would want to break up with me. I would do anything to stay with Alfie.

When I went over to his house that day, I was going to find out if he would want to be with me. I asked him out ten weeks beforehand he said he would tell me during his winter break. I was looking forward to find out what he was going to say. Guess he gave me his answer. A big fat fucken NO!

Sorry. It's just that I am highly upset about the entire thing. Especially since we buried him one my birthday. MY BIRTHDAY! And no one remembered. Sometimes I hear his voice telling me to break free from Artie. But my public doesn't want to. I need to look out for them first; my needs are second. Though some days I think about putting myself first and take up Alfie's voices advice.  
I could seeing as Alfie gave me his navy, air force and army. I would outnumber the English army easily. I would be an easy win. Even easier than using koalas. My koalas are amazing. They gave two members of Artie's "superstar" band One Direction chlamydia. Best laugh I ever had. Kind of funny since it was the English got the diseases and not me. Artie sent me here hoping for that result and he didn't get it.  
Back onto topic. Alfie left the defence corps to me for a reason. I guess that reason was to protect him. And protect him I did. Even though I was under threat, I tried my hardest for him. I raced home and demanded that my critters help defend their home and then I raced back to defend Alfie's home.

Matthew then a let me claim Alaska. I didn't want it, I just I wanted my Alfie back. I never went with another person. I stayed single for the majority of my life so what does it matter if I don't get with a person in my life. Why would it matter if I never go with another man or woman?

I stay in the stay in the States nine months of the year. I claim that I am training the forces but I am only looking for Alfie. Artie did tell me that he was able to summon Alfie from the top of Lady Liberty so some days I just sit there hoping that he would turn up. Other days I watch some of my people get big in LA. Others don't make it anywhere. That is the American culture. But they don't know that don't the America that everyone knew and love is gone.  
They stuff food into their mouths and I cringe. They cry when they realize that they are overweight and my heart breaks. They claim no one loves them and I want to show them how true love operates. Love is not something that can be erased by a spell or tossed away. They never tell the whole truth about anything.  
Even history doesn't tell the whole truth. The winners always write history. That was the case in the Revolutionary War. It was the case again in the American Civil War. I was still a child when both the wars happened but I still remember everything.  
Alfie was tortured. He was literally being torn in two. He showed me the scars when he thought I was old enough to understand the brutality of war. He showed me the scars when I was about to join the First World War.  
That was one of the things that I loved about him. He always was the hero. I would use my education to help him. War happening and Alfie wanted to join? I would be the one who found the statistics and figure out the tactics that would prove useful to him. I remember being so proud of myself when he rubbed my hair and said, "Jett. If I am the hero, you are the sidekick." I swear was floating on a cloud for days.

Yes, I know how wrong it is to think like that about a dead person. But Alfie was amazing to me. He stayed with me, even when my brother, New Zealand, ditched us. Alfie comforted me when I was crying. My heart was broken by my own brother.

Alfie's boss and my boss help each other every day. Especially recently, since Mr. Obama have no Alfie to turn to. Mr. Obama has told my boss, Mr. Abbott, that he wanted me to move over there for a while. Mr. Obama wanted me to move into Alfie's old home which I agreed to straight away.

The first night that I was there I looked around at every room that was there. There were four rooms dedicated to Abraham Lincoln, James A Garfield, William McKinley and John Kennedy. The four United States Presidents that have been assassinated. In another room there was a room dedicated to the evolution of the American flag. I was surprised to see that there was Artie's flag alongside his. That made me even more so certain that Alfie was going to say 'no' to me.  
As I climbed up the stairs to his room, I felt like I was invading his privacy. However, Mr. Obama wanted me to stay here for a reason. The wooden door at the top of the stairs was the object that was stopping me from entering his room. I opened the door. The room was a mess, but I kinda expected it. Dirty laundry lied all around the room. His laptop was still sitting on the desk and a blank covered book sat next to the laptop. I reached over and grabbed over and opened it at the beginning of the book. That was then when I realized that I was reading his diary. A wave of ideas knocked around my thoughts. I could be the first one to find out why Alfie left this world. I flicked through the pages til I saw an alarming entry. It went like this:

_Dear diary,__December 31_

_I am scared. I know that if I go through with my plans, everyone will blame Ivan. I don't want Ivan to blame himself. I don't want anyone to blame themselves if my plan works. But here's the thing._

_I DON'T BELONG HERE. I am always being stereotyped. Half the stereotypes don't reflect who I truly am as a person. I don't always eat burgers. I know what a salad is. I drink water and can be healthy._

_But no one knows the true me. I try to be patient but everyone else makes me say the first thing I think of. I don't mean to be loud. I am just reacting. Everyone expects me to act a certain way. They can't see the pain that they are causing me. Matthew is the only one who understands. That is because we are more alike than they thought. But I will never let him know that._

_My wrists hurt. They are still bleeding. It really hurts. But what hurt more are my memories. I tried hard to make everyone happy but it got out of hand. That's why I cut.  
My celebrities continually tweet stuff like 'you are amazing the way you are." But that's not true. If you are amazing the way you are then how come I am the equivalent of a piece of shit?_

_I'm thinking about leaving the world. I can't do it now because it is the holiday season. None of the others will n ever forgive me. It will be soon.  
AFJ._

I stare in shock. This needed to be showed to everyone else. We need to support each other. We could stop others death like Alfie's. Never again should we refer to each other based on our stereotypes.


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

Arthur's POV

When Jett called an emergency meeting, I was surprised. The one I banished who never did anything useful, is doing something useful. He wanted the meeting to be held at Alfred's old house but so many of us refused. He then made us all travel to his home. 10 hours' time difference made me so confused. When I wanted to go to bed it was only 12:30 pm. Not only that, he wanted the meeting to be at 3pm in Sydney.

By the time 3pm came around the Sydney Parliament house was filled with a mixture of tired faces and those who probably only just woke up. It was 3:30 pm when Jett called the meeting into order. It was like he wanted to torture me.  
"Guys, I have found out why Alfie died when he did," was Jett's opening sentence. I was truly awake then. Jett was the one to figure out Alfred's reasoning. I thought no one would ever find out.  
"Turns out he kept a diary like so many of us. The reason was sick of being stereotyped. I have an extract here. If anyone wants to read it later." Jett explained. That made a lot of sense. We would stereotype Alfred as the fat one who knew no self-control when it came to food. He was the one who had to be in charge. He was the type of person who has loud and obnoxious. But that was the only way anyone of us thought of him.  
"You are saying that Alfred killed himself because of being stereotyped?" Matthew asked.  
"That's what I thought as well until I read this passage. '_My family doesn't care. No one will notice if I'm gone. Arthur is too busy fucking Francis. Matthew is fucking Gilbert. So they will be too busy to notice if I am gone. No one outside the family will care. I have already written my will. The whole world will get rid of me.'_ He killed himself because we didn't notice how lonely each one of us is. We are too busy thinking of our own problems.  
Ivan. Can you please show us your wrists? Cause I think that you will be the perfect case study that is alive." Jett explained. The Australian had put a lot of thought into this.  
Ivan did as he was asked. He rolled up his coat sleeves. He looked up at us as if to say anyone who talks about this outside the meeting would be killed. Up and down his wrists and arms were marred. We all know who did that to him. Ivan did that to himself.  
"Ivan, would you like to tell us why you did that?" Natalya asked. She was concerned for him. I hate to admit it, but I was also concerned for him. Ivan looked up sheepishly and answered his younger sibling.  
"Everyone hates me. I am the one who causes all of the problems in the world. I team up with the wrong people. Just take a look at your media. You all ridicule me. During the 60's, Alfred would do anything to push me. And more recently, Matthew, Jett, Ludwig, Feliciano and Romano dropped a nuke onto my home. I feel like no one cares for me."  
He quickly pulled down his sleeves. I couldn't believe that Jett and Matthew had bombed had bombed Ivan's home. Ludwig, I could believe. I felt myself rise from my seat. I knew what I was going to be saying. I didn't want to tell them but my mouth and mind had other ideas.  
"I, too, have had problems. When Alfred broke up with me, I felt like I wanted to leave this earth. I stopped myself. Though this year, I nearly joined Alfred. I was going to jump off the top of this building. I heard Alfred. He pushed me from the edge of the building. He saved me." I said to the other nations.  
One by one they all of us told our stories. We all lived long lives and as one we found out that the main reason for our suicide attempts was because we believed that no one loved us and no one noticed us. Jett stood up after we had finished talking.  
"What's common in all of our tales is that we believed that we had no one. We can change that. What if we lived in a world where we have each other as a support system? What I am proposing is that we have an international council made up of ourselves. When one of us is feeling like horse shit we can help him or her break free from the feelings." He proposed to us. Unbelievably my brother had come up with an idea that could save us all. The idea could stop all wars.  
"Jett, how could this idea work? So many of us hate each other. We would put each other down. No one would cooperate." Francis stated. The other countries murmured that they agreed with Francis.  
"You all agreed on disagreeing" I pointed out. I was amazed that Jett had thought of something that would make everyone agree on.  
"He made us agree on one thing to show us how easy it is to agree with one another." Francis said in shock. The other countries stared at Jett and I.  
"It worked didn't it?" Jett asked to the others in the room. The other countries agreed with each other again. One by one the countries signed onto the idea of an international support council.

Soon after, the other countries left the Sydney Parliament house. Soon it was just me and Jett. Soon it was only us in the Parliament building.  
"Jett, what you did was amazing. Finding out the reason why Alfred wanted to leave the earth and then call a meeting based on it. I am proud of you." I told my brother.  
"Nah, mate. It was no drama. It would have been the least that Alfie would want from us. He would have wanted us to know how to connect as a family." Jett responded with his accent penetrating his speech. I looked into his eyes and I could see the similarities between him and Alfred. If the eyes were the entrance to a person's soul, the Alfred had stayed around in Jett. I hugged my brother goodbye. I left New South Wales capital. I knew that Jett had other important things to do. And besides I had something that only I could do.  
I didn't stay in my home long. I had to go someplace else that was over the channel. I had to go visit Francis. I knocked on his front. I waited several minutes before he opened the door. I could hear females giggling in the background. Somehow I knew that Francis would still be a womanizer, despite being engaged.  
"We need to talk." I said while I still had the courage.  
"What about my darling?" he asked with the French accent dripping off his voice.  
"Us. We need to talk about us. I know that there is in your house. I don't know if I can be with someone like that. So what I am saying, basically, us that we are calling off the wedding." I told him in a meek voice. He stared at me. He slowly nodded as if to agree with me.  
"This isn't about me is it? This is about someone else. Someone who you hold dearer than me. Arthur, I know who you love more than me and its okay." Francis responded. He was taking it easier than I expected. Though I sort of expected it. He could make anyone fall in love with him.  
"Goodbye Francis," I said as I turned away from his face.  
"Au revoir, my good friend." He said as I walked away from him.  
_He only thought of me as a friend,_ I thought to myself. _Never as anything else._ I did feel a bit betrayed. But that is life. Love, betrayal and heart break. It doesn't matter what order they come in, people experience all of the emotions.


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6  
Alfred's POV

I saw everything. I heard every word. I felt every pain my family felt. I suppose that Jett did the right thing.

Matthew is right. I do still want to be the hero. That is why I am sometimes concealed in Jett's soul. Only Arthur has noticed me in Jett. No one else has noticed.

Gilbert has joined me. Like me, he too, sometimes connects with someone else's soul. He joins with Ludwig. It doesn't matter too Gilbert that Ludwig stabbed him in the back. The day that Ludwig stormed into St. Petersburg it was actually Gilbert taking revenge on Ivan. He had so much fun that day.

Most days I try to turn a blind eye on the events that are happening in my old home. I just chill with Germania and Grandpa Rome. I ask them about their lives on earth. I also ask Grandpa Rome why he vanished. He told me: "when you grow too big, there are internal battles. When there are internal battles you are ripped apart. When you are ripped apart the chances of healing are diminished. When you can't heal, then your wounds grow larger. When your wounds are large and you can't heal, you might as well say goodbye to life." His words hit home. It was like my story.

When Gilbert reached over the veil, the first thing I did was apologized. I apologized for my actions in life. I apologized for trying to separate him and Mattie. I apologized to signing the document to abolish his country. Luckily, or maybe he was full forgiveness, he said that life may not be fair on earth and one may receive enemies in life, but during death one must forgive others actions. Gilbert had a point. So after we made up I went to see my dead bosses. They knew who I was. I remembered all of their deaths. Mr. Lincoln's was the hardest one for my public. Never before had anyone important to my society had been assassinated. But he did try to radically try to change the way society worked. Standing up I knew what I had to say.  
"America thanks you for your leadership, humanity, and your ideas. America wishes you all the best in your afterlife."  
George Washington stood up. He saluted at my spirit knowing, and remembering who I am. Who I once was. Sometimes it takes longer to understand who you are, and what you were put on the earth to do. I know that know. Jett and Mattie are learning that life lesson now.

Despite the fact that I had been around for centuries, each year and each election my bosses made radicle decisions that left the whole of my people alone and scared. There was no way that I could help them. To my people, I was the unaging person. I was a witch. I was part of the supernatural world, a person but not completely human. I had been burnt at the stake during the Salem Witch Trials, but I didn't die then. I wanted to live on. I thought that I needed to live in the world. That is why I didn't die then. I learnt that only when I was ready that I could move on. That's what happened. I lost hope in life.  
My brothers didn't know that. I didn't know that until it was too late. Now look at me. I am constantly hiding in the soul of the Australian, pushing him to do things that only I would imagine to do. But I can't do everything.

This was my story, and until time travel can be done I will cope in the land of the dead. But one day, no one will remember me because my youngest brother will have taken over. Alas, this is my end.


End file.
